CHICAGO Yadier Molina trotted around the bases while his teammates celebrated in the dugout. Paul DeJong lost his voice because he was screaming so much.
CHICAGO — Yadier Molina trotted around the bases while his teammates celebrated in the dugout. Paul DeJong lost his voice because he was screaming so much.
It was one wild party for the St. Louis Cardinals — again.
Molina and DeJong homered on Craig Kimbrel’s first two pitches in the ninth inning, and the Cardinals handed the reeling Chicago Cubs their fifth straight loss with a 9-8 victory on Saturday.
“We don’t give up,” Molina said. “Today was a perfect example, we’re never going to give up.”
Marcell Ozuna also connected as the NL Central-leading Cardinals (88-67) won for the fifth time in six games. Dexter Fowler had two hits and two RBIs, and Paul Goldschmidt also drove in two runs.
Chicago (82-73) used pinch-hit homers by Ian Happ and Tony Kemp and a solo drive by rookie Nico Hoerner to carry an 8-7 lead into the ninth. It looked as if it was on its way to stopping a costly slide that pushed it out of playoff position.
But Kimbrel (0-4) was hit hard again in his first appearance since he gave up Matt Carpenter’s 10th-inning homer in the Cubs’ 5-4 loss Thursday night. Then Milwaukee closed out a 10-1 victory over Pittsburgh to increase its advantage over Chicago for the second NL wild card to three games.
“It’s really a difficult loss based on all the good things we did today,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
Molina jumped on Kimbrel’s elevated fastball for his ninth homer , touching off a rollicking celebration on the Cardinals’ side of the field. Kimbrel looked stunned as the ball soared into the bleachers in left-center.
DeJong then belted an even deeper drive for his 28th homer, completing the Cardinals’ seventh set of back-to-back shots this year.
